The Art Of Manipulation
by yazzii
Summary: a dark secret is revealed. A secret she tried so hard to forget, but how could she? Tigress is torn away from those she loves. will her friends be tricked into abandoning her to face the dark days ahead alone? manipulation can be a dangerous thing.
1. Calm Before The Storm

**hey guys, Yazzii is back, but not with a comedy o.o**

**ok this story is basically formed around my favourite character tigress... i may add a lil poXtigress at the end *wink* *wink* but only cuz i kno how much u guys love it... most of u anyways. anyways! read! and pleeeeaaassssseeeeeee for the love of literature ****READ & REVIEW !  
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**.The Art Of Manipulation**.

One of the most beautiful sights to behold; the valley of peace at sunset. The deep fiery colours that burned in the sky were truly amazing. Birds flying towards the warm glow of the dying sun, behind the dark silhouettes of mountains in the far distance and shadows gradually stretching until they eventually disappeared in the darkness of night. The black outlines of villagers closing shop and going about their business. The usually hectic streets had finally calmed, to the extent that a pin dropping could be heard. Peaceful was the only word that could describe the fairy tale setting; for once, the valley of peace lived up to its name.

Sitting silently beneath the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom was a tiger, watching over the valley like a guardian angel. Appreciating the quiet like a rare gift (which in her case, it really was), she savored every moment; she of all people knew it was not to last after all.

Tigress gazed the red sky, seeing nothing; she was consumed in her thoughts and ponderings. She remembered everything that was worth thinking about that had happened since she, Po, and the rest of the furious five defeated lord Shen four months ago. To her great dismay she still hadn't mastered inner peace, she didn't know what was wrong with her, the last few months had been the most relaxing of her entire life! And she still didn't have anything to show for it; master Shifu had said 'patience tigress, everything worth having, takes a lot of hard work to get', cheesy and unhelpful as it was, she accepted his remark and kept trying to accomplish what seemed impossible. She had fully recovered from the blast of Shen's cannon although she did still have an ugly scar stretching along her stomach as a constant reminder of the twisted peacock; thankfully it was almost invisible beneath her white belly fur, one of the pro's of being a tiger. She and Po had become best friends they were as close as she was with viper, thinking of the big, care-free lump of lard made her grin fondly.

She had mastered the Mantis style of kung fu, so now she was a master of the Tiger, Crane, and Mantis style; as a result of her success Mantis had formed a 'family like' bond with her, she viewed him as an annoying big brother, Crane as the respectable eldest brother, monkey as a cheeky cousin and viper as her compassionate younger sister. She supposed that made her the feisty little sister; she smirked soundly. A mix and match family. _**Her **_mix and match family. Of course Shifu had been proud of her, since Tai Lung's defeat, they had gradually been developing a father, daughter relationship; just like she had always yearned for.

(Flashback)

"_Master, I have finally completed my training, I mastered the final scroll of the mantis style. I am now a master in the Mantis style of Kung fu." Tigress stated proudly, while bowing to the red panda, who was balancing on Oogway's with his back to her, while he was facing the moon pool in the hall of warriors. She had slaved for four years to reach this accomplishment and she still insisted on being humble about it. After a few moments of silence, tigress began to wonder if he had heard her, or if he had and he was merely unimpressed. Her determined grin fell as she considered the latter._

_In a sudden flurry or movement, Shifu was balancing at her side, smiling coolly and patting her supportively on the back; the biggest show of affection he had given her, in her twenty years at the palace._

"_Good job, Mei Shan, I am very proud of you." He murmured his words were dripping with pride, so she knew he meant what he was saying. Her heart flooded with warmth, he was _proud _of her and he had addressed her using her given name, which just made it all the sweeter _**(A/N plz make sure you take note of the name i gave her ^_^)**_. Those were the exact words she had always longed to hear coming from her adoptive father. She beamed and tried valiantly to hide her on coming tears._

(End flashback)

But other from that, not much had happened. When raiders and bandits heard of lord Shen's defeat, they had made the wise decision to back off. This unfortunately meant that things got a little boring around here. Without a weekly bandit attack things had been insanely quiet; quiet enough that she found the time to sit under the peach tree and reflect on times gone by. Like she was now.

She sighed and watched the last visible villager, go inside their home to welcomed by their own loving family. She glanced at the darkened sky and noticed that stars were beginning to appear. _How long have I been sitting here? I've probably missed dinner too. _And as if on cue, her stomach growled and a peach fell from the tree and landed on her lap. _Huh, I suppose that's my signal to get going._

**Jade palace kitchen**

Roars of booming laughter could be heard echoing around the jade palace. The dragon warrior and the furious five (minus tigress) were very close to falling off of their chairs with laughter. They were discussing their lives and experiences before they'd ever set foot in the palace. Empty bowls of noodles cluttered the sink while the group of friends was sitting at the table exchanging their tall tales.

"YOU GOT YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU ON A SILVER PLATER BY A _GRANNY?" _Po exclaimed between snickers, pounding his fist on the table, saying it just seemed to make it funnier as another round of laughter shook the palace walls. Even the usually composed Crane was grasping his sides and wheezing desperately for breath.

"Well, _excuse me _Po, but I was taken by surprise! It's not like I could fight back, I would never strike an elderly Lady!" mantis insisted glaring at his friends (well, used to be 'friends') in frustration and embarrassment. Was it his fault that he mistook an elderly woman for a nice 'catch'? Was it really his fault that he threw a few 'cat calls' her way? Wasn't that a compliment? And, was it completely necessary to beat the living daylights out of him with her handbag? _No, no, yes and no! _ Surely this was classed as some sort of abuse or bullying; always pick on the little guy, typical. He shrunk back in his chair and pouted childishly. _This is the last time I tell these clowns anything! Would it kill them to try to take me seriously?_

"Whatever dude, you got beat up by a pensioner." Monkey chimed in burying his face in his arms while his back heaved violently, he was either crying or laughing. Mantis bitterly guessed it was the latter. "A _woman _no less." He added with a teasing smirk.

Viper scowled and hit monkey with her 'whip like' tail around the back of his head. "And _what _has being a woman got to do with it?" suddenly the three other boys went very quiet and looked pitifully at monkey (apart from mantis who was rather enjoying seeing his friend in discomfort), who was expected to answer the touchy question. He straightened his back and glanced desperately at his male companions, while scowling hatefully at mantis.

"Nothing! Nothing at all! I was just stating that fact, is all, I didn't mean anything by it!" he mumbled nervously. He was actually quite relieved, if it had been tigress who had heard him say that he would no doubt be silenced by a solid punch in the face, then thrown down the palace steps, then burned alive, then possibly eaten… she was a carnivore after all.

"Hmph. I'll pretend I believe you this time, you are lucky that I'm not as temperamental as a certain tiger I know." Viper noted, smirking and wagging her eyebrows evilly. They all shared knowing looks. The next few seconds were spent in thoughtful silence as they considered the disastrous out come if tigress had been present. Monkey gulped and rubbed the back of his neck, while slumping into his chair. Of course Po had to be the one to break the silence that was slowly edging towards being awkward.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, what about tigress? Any of you know any stories about her past and stuff? She never told me anything about her early days of awesomeness!" he said pumping his fist into the air with confidence. More cautious glances were shared between the group as they debated on what was appropriate to reveal to him; it was not their place to talk about someone else's past, let alone their friend's.

"well… urm… as you know, she was brought up in an orphanage, She was… neglected and bullied, but one day Shifu came and taught her self control, she made friends and then he adopted her when she turned six. So basically she has been here most of her life." Crane said matter-of-factly. The dragon warrior stared wide-eyed as crane finished his simple analysis of tigress' past; he suddenly began to worry. _Why is he staring at me like that? Did I let something slip? I shouldn't have said anything…_

"Crane. We may as well tell him, Po is going to be staying with us after all. We can trust you not to pass on any of our conversations right, Dragon warrior?" viper inquired mysteriously.

"Of course not! I'm the dragon warrior aren't I? Would the dragon warrior ever tell a lie?"

"What about when you convinced master Shifu that you were ill, just to get out of doing a few laps around the valley?" mantis countered, snickering cheekily. Po pouted and glared back at the witty insect.

"Hey! That was one time! And I got caught snacking in the kitchen later on didn't I? I learnt my lesson." Po grumbled.

"_Anyway. _We all came up with a theory which explains why tigress is so shady when asked about her time at Bao Gu. We think she had some sort of traumatizing experience. The real question is _what happened? _I know it's not any of our business but any normal person would be concerned. What is she hiding when she says 'I don't want to talk about it.'? What is she remembering when she gets that far away look in her eyes? Whatever it is, it's killing her, and I for one don't want to see her hurting." Viper said with unusual aggressiveness and seriousness lacing her tone. Viper was really worried, everyone was, and even Po had those little caring worry lights flickering in his eyes.

Suddenly a strange rumbling sound echoed in the now silent kitchen.

"You don't know the half of it!" a cold voice snapped; causing the group friends to jump 10feet high and Po to fall out of his chair to land on top of monkey with a loud crash. "And I do not want, nor do I deserve, any of your sympathy." it added stiffly. A figure stood solidly in the doorway, eyes burning with hardly controlled rage and it's lips curled back over its glistening fangs in distaste. The figures ears were flat against its head and it was inhaling and exhaling heavily through its nose.

"Tigress! We were just ta-" crane was silenced with a quick raise of the paw.

"I know _exactly _what you were discussing. And viper, you were right; it is _none _of your business. What happened, happened because I was insanely stupid and you all have absolutely _no _idea how hard I've been trying to forget." tigress snarled through clenched teeth. Just the sight of her muscled rippling powerfully made mantis want to take a step back… perhaps one thousand steps back. It had gone unnaturally silent, no one even had the nerve to breathe; so silent in fact that mantis discovered that silence had its own sound. A few more seconds passed and with a final warning growl, tigress left the doorway, heading for her room.

"Dude get off of me!" monkey snapped while shoving Po off of him, after he was able to breathe steadily again he shivered and hugged himself tightly while glaring at the spot where he had been pinned under Po. "Gods I feel so violated."

**37 miles north from the valley of peace.**

She could imagine it all so very clearly, her tears, her blood and the grand finale; her death, but no, not the death of the body! No, no, no that is simply too merciful, she had bigger plans, outstandingly brilliant plans! She wanted to bring death to her _spirit. _Her soul, the thing that made her who she was; her conscience must die. She would destroy her to the very core of her rotting black heart; she wanted every fiber of her being to feel pain and torture constantly. Her ever so painful 'death' just a mere heartbeat away… so close… it was all going to come together, every single bead of sweat and blood and tears she had shed planning this was so worth it and it was all going to be _so_ satisfying, just to watch what she had worked so hard for, finally come together.

_That bitch is going to feel a small fraction of the pain and heart ache she brought upon me. I will tear her away from everyone she holds dear. I will expose her to the world and she will finally become known for being the slimy whore she truly is. It will be so _delicious_. The best part? Oh, the best part will be being there to witness it all, to drive her to the mere edge of insanity, to watch her fall from a public icon to one of the most hated people to ever go down in history! I. will. Break. Her._

Hardly showing a half-sane appearance as she strolled through the darkening streets she struggled to contain a chuckle of anticipation. _No, don't call attention to yourself Rushai. Arctic foxes aren't common around here so you're already turning a few heads. That's not me drawing in attention, it's the scars, the scars that slut gave me!_ Her snow white fur was ruffled and dirty, where as it used to turn many a man's head. Her black void-like eyes which seemed deep enough to fall into glistened with excitement. She was grinning madly; all in all, she looked rather insane.

_Almost there now! Thirty-seven miles to go! _She could no longer contain herself and she let out a low chuckle, which slowly grew into uncontrollable hysterics. _Watch out, I'm on my way Mei Shan._

**ok if u made it to the end here u r some sort of god, and u liked what you read or if u have some helpful tips i could use**_ plz tell me!... _**read review (oh and NO FLAMING! its pathetic -.-')  
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_just click the button *review*  
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	2. omg!

**helloooo again. this is ma chapter 2... ok i will TRY to UPDATE every WEEK but iv got school and all tht stuff so forgive me if its more thn tht, but i will try to complete this fanfic! promise!  
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**special THANK U to all the ppl who reviewed. THANK U. **

**Chapter 2 of T.A.O.M**

**(dream sequence)**

Falling into a bottomless void of darkness and despair, she spun and twisted as air tore through her fur; it was as if she was falling off the face of the earth only to be lost somewhere in the black universe. Flashing images of her memories, zoomed past her in a blur of light and colour, like shooting stars; she was surrounded by shooting stars. She could feel everything she had felt in these memories, hear everything she had heard, see everything she had seen, and think everything she had ever thought, she relived the all the hopeless tears and ecstatic joys she had ever experienced. Each voice and thought sounded around her, and echoed in the infinite space. She watched delightedly as her life was replayed to her.

She watched intently as her most precious memories pass her by; one in particular got her attention.

"_So what's your name?" the young snake asked her curiously._

"_tigress." she replied hesitantly. The new resident of the jade palace laughed heartily; tigress frowned, _does she think my name is funny? _Viper noticed her reaction and cleared her throat and grinned kindly._

"_No, I meant what is your _real_ name, your given name? I'm Juan _**(A/N graceful)**_" she explained. Understanding flickered across the young tigers face and she nodded._

"_oh, it's Mei Shan _**(A/N beautiful and precious)**_" the two girls grinned, they had known each other barely five minutes and they were already well on their way to becoming friends. _My first friend… _tigress beamed, ear to ear._

But eventually it passed on and was replaced by other, less appealing thoughts; A cheerful monkey introducing himself while she acknowledged him unsurely, an over confident mantis grinning seductively at her while she grimaced in disgust and noticing Shifu scowling at him in the corner of her eye, a nervous crane bowing at her despite the fact she was at least ten years younger than him and a flabby panda plummeting to the stone ground in front of her. Only for a millisecond. For only a microscopic fraction of time could she sense all of these things, then a new memory of hers would zoom past and take over, anger, sadness, pride, love, hate, calm, jealousy, longing, disgust, happiness, fulfillment, confusion; every single emotion in existence, she was feeling all of them in the same second.

Guilt. Her blissful and amazed demeanor shattered and suddenly everything around her, the lights, the colours, the sounds and the thoughts came to a dramatic halt. She was surrounded by a single, lingering, feeling of raw guilt.

She floated weightlessly in the eternal black; waiting, hoping, and begging that she could keep on moving. But she was stuck, unable to escape from the one single emotion that threatened to consume her whole and send her to the brink of sanity.

Tigress glanced quickly around. Pure nothingness, she strained desperately to see something, anything; it was about as useful as trying to look at something with no light and your eyelids shut.

'_Oh, what a surprise, more nothing. And if you look to your left you will see a splendid display of nothing, and on your right a truly inspiring sight of nothing' _ she scowled sourly at her inability to put her senses to good use. Her instincts were going berserk, the lack of knowledge about her surroundings made her feel abnormally apprehensive and exposed to danger.

"_**What are you doing? Get away from him!"**_

Tigress snapped her head around at the sound of the voice. "No…" she whispered in disbelief.

"_**Nooo!"**_

The tiger master staggered back and felt her heart beat pounding in her ears; this couldn't be happening again, could it? "I didn't mean to…" she murmured shakily. It was the same voice; the same voice that had played a role in her childhood nightmares for so long. The exact same voice she had worked so painfully hard to forget; to banish to the deepest darkest corner of her mind. Part of her questioned why it was only ever a voice she heard but, for as long as she could remember, never a face.

_***crack***_

She fell to her knees **(A/N if falling to your knees is possible while floating?)** and started sobbing pitifully and shaking violently. "It was an a-accident! I swear!" she whimpered through her hysterics. Flashes of the incident blinked around her, each picture was tinted blurry, red and hurt like a knife to the heart. It was the cruelest torture she had ever experienced. She clenched her eyes shut but the distorted images were still there flashing in her mind… taunting her, provoking her.

"_**I can't believe… this can't be happening…"**_

"I'm so sorry…" she managed through her countless sobs.

"_**You monster…" **_it breathed gravely.

"I'm not!"

"_**You MONSTER!" **_the voice roared.

**(End dream.)**

Tigress bolted awake with a loud gasp. She snapped her head in all directions; taking in the sights and sounds before her. An dark, empty bedroom with very few decorations, with the single exception of a painting of herself and Grandmaster Oogway sitting in the lotus position, beneath the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom, that was hanging above her bed. But apart from that it was occupied with more mandatory items like a dresser, a simple bed and a rug that lay in the middle of the wooden floors. She also noticed the delicate sound of snoring through the rice paper room dividers coming from the opposite room to hers; Po's room.

She sighed shakily and ran her claws roughly through her fur which was dripping with sweat. Her bed sheets were strewn messily across the floor and her eyes burned from tears she must have unconsciously shed. But she didn't care. All of it was overwhelming her, the guilt and shame of what had happened felt like ten thousand tons were resting on her shoulders.

She tried to take a few deep breathes to calm herself but each inhale hitched and cracked. She shook violently and her puffy eyes started to glisten with moisture. For the first time in what seemed like forever, tigress let go of her tough girl bravado and allowed herself to cry.

**Morning**

"Good morning master." The palaces inhabitants said in union. The students stood back straight and proud as they awaited instructions from their master regarding their daily duties.

"Ah, yes, good morn- where on earth is tigress?" their master inquired irritably, frowning at the spot where the striped feline should have been standing. _How peculiar, tigress is my prize student; she would be dead before missing morning roll call_. The present students glanced questioningly at one another, until Po got the guts to rap gently on the tiger master's door.

"Urm, hey tigress? You in there? Make sure your decent b'cause I'm coming in…" the panda slid the door open and gasped loudly, covering his mouth with his paw, his emerald eyes widened considerably and his eyebrows shot up; he looked rather comical. The other master's rushed over to his side and all shared similar reactions.

There, sitting in the corner of her room in her night clothes, mumbling gibberish, hugging her legs and rocking back and forth was the leader of the furious five. Her usually beautiful amber eyes were now puffy, pink around the edges and bloodshot. Her perfectly groomed orange, black and white fur was ruffled and dusty. All in all, she was a mess.

"My gods, what happened to you?" Shifu ordered after at least three minutes of continuous gawking. Tigress glanced up and she gasped; as if only just realizing they were there, watching her and seeing her in that pathetic state. Her face hardened and her eyes transformed so that they were unreadable and cold. She stood up stiffly and bowed.

"Nothing happened to me, I... I just had a bad dream." Tigress replied with surprising steadiness. Her inability to deceive her master forced her to tell the truth, yes she had down played the situation more than a little bit but it was the truth none the less. She had had a nightmare and that was that, even though it felt like so much more than that. It wasn't just a nightmare; it was a memory, not just one either, it was a whole damn series of them! And the fact that all her comrades thought this breakdown was due to a not-so-nice dream made her want to destroy something, but that would have to wait. She sighed rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Excuse me master, but I need to get dressed. I apologize for not being there to greet you this morning." She bowed again and slid the rice paper door shut.

After a few puzzled seconds of silence mantis spoke up.

"Well… that's not something you see every day, eh?"

**Later… around early evening**

The beautiful day was beginning to come to an end, the sun had set and the sky was a reddish-orange haze. The cool air was still and relaxing, and carried the delightfully delicious scent of broth which was beginning to coax her away from her destination. With a great deal of will power and while holding her breath, viper managed to ignore the mouth watering aroma from the palace kitchen and slithered hurriedly away from it.

She slipped through the court yard and hesitantly approached the training hall that stood at the far end of the palace grounds; she could hear a stream of battle cries and the unmistakable sound of shattering wood. She gulped nervously as inched closer at a snail's pace. _Remember why you're doing this… they may not know it yet but your friend needs you. _The students and their master had discussed it over breakfast that Viper should be the one to go and talk to Tigress.

"_Hold on a minute, why should it be me who has to go? I'm not complaining, but it seems unfair that every time there's a feud or someone had a problem, it's always me who has to go sort it all out. What about you guys? She thinks of all of you as her family too." She insisted. All of them seemed to acknowledge her point but it didn't seem it had swayed the argument much in her favor. The boys all shared an uncomfortable look; then they pushed crane forward and took a step back to let him explain what the issue _really_ was. _

"_Well, you see, urm, how can I put this?" he scratched the tip of his beak and frowned, while viper tapped her tail on the table impatiently, with one brow raised. Crane cleared his throat and tried to hide a grimace behind a smile. "Heh heh, we all immediately wanted you to go because we were worried her problem might be… about something… _feminine._" He said the final word with meaning and viper finally understood. She gaped and face-palmed _**(A/N if it's even possible for snakes to do that.)**_._

"_I cannot believe you guys! You all need to grow up, I mean, how immature can you get!" she exclaimed shaking her head in disbelief. Her gaze settled on master Shifu who looked just as uncomfortable as the other boys; she frowned. "Your own daughter." She hissed bravely; she had never snapped at her master in her entire life but this was simply unbelievable. Luckily he didn't retaliate; instead he shrugged helplessly with an embarrassed smile. She groaned and glared at the group._

"_*sigh* fine, I'll go." The slithered off mumbling something about 'growing a pair' before she turned a corner and was out of sight._

"Hey tigress its dinner time. You have to eat something." Viper said. She waited a few moments and got no reply.

Viper sighed and slipped through the training hall's doors to be greeted by the terrifying sight of a ferocious feline delivering a barrage of kicks and punches at a blurring speed to the swinging clubs of oblivion. With every movement the tiger made, droplets of blood would splatter at her feet and all over her demolished surroundings. Everything in the hall was smashed to tiny pieces that scattered the floor. She had literally left nothing standing, the wooden warriors had been torn apart, the hoops what monkey would train on had been ripped from their bolts on the ceiling, and the spinning snakes below the swinging clubs were cracked and broken. The only training platform left undiminished was the fire pipes that viper trained on.

"Tigress _STOP!" _viper screamed in horror as the striped cat destroyed the last of the swinging clubs with a feral snarl. Tigress' ear twitched, indicating that she had heard vipers begs above the sound of the carnage she was creating.

With a quick backwards flip, the tiger master landed gracefully in front of viper. The two stared at each other, viper worriedly and tigress questioningly.

"Is there a problem viper?" tigress asked coolly, with surprising emptiness in her usually strong and determined voice. Viper glanced at her friend over and gasped when her eyes settled on the fragments of white bone that splintered her bloody knuckles.

"My gods, what have you done? You can't keep doing this you will end up killing yourself!" the snake hissed, a mixture of concern and anger laced her tone. Tigress looked shocked at her friend's uncharacteristic outburst, and then glanced at her knuckles with sad, indifference. She stared back at viper with emotionless eyes; dead eyes. She shrugged nonchalantly and flicked some of the blood off of her paws.

"I can handle it, and we both know that I've had far worse. Now tell me, why are you here?" tigress inquired curiously. Viper sighed and prepared herself to accomplish what she came here to achieve.

"Well, firstly, it's dinner time and you need to eat something, and secondly, I have come to apologize on everyone's behalf as well as my own, for sticking our noses where they were not wanted. It was none of our business and it was not our place to pry into your personal life."

Tigress smirked and nodded. "You are forgiven."

"_However_," viper continued immediately. "You are our sister and friend, and we have a right to be concerned about you. So what I should have said is 'we are sorry for discussing your personal life without you being present'. Were all worried about you tigress, whatever you are hiding from us, it's blatantly obvious that it's killing you inside. And what we all witnessed this morning, confirmed our all thoughts and notions." She finished softly looking the feline straight in the eye.

The tiger master's eyes glazed over and her smile disappeared. "Keep your creative ideas to yourself. I couldn't care less what you all think of me, I know what I am." Tigress snapped, her voice was still empty but it was sharp and her glare was piercing. Viper didn't look in the least bit phased by her words.

"Then what are you?" the snake countered.

"A _monster._"

**While everyone was having dinner**

The sky was glazed in violet and indigo, and lingering on the horizon was a layer or gorgeously, deep claret; it was indeed a wonderful setting in the valley of peace. The cool evening breeze tickled her now clean and presentable, white fur; she had made the decision to have a bath before she began her plan, it would make phase one a lot easier. She had also 'borrowed' a few 'new' clothes a few towns back to replace her stinking rags. She was finely dressed in sky blue pants and a fitted silver vest with intricate floral designs that decorated its sides.

To her great amusement she had the pleasure of noticed many men turn their heads to give her a second glance. _Oh, yes, I still got it. _She smirked, and listened in to their convocations hoping to be mentioned and complimented.

'Whoa, ain't she a beaut' a grimy pig whispered to his friend; a lanky brown rabbit.

'You got that right mate, if I hadn't 'a laid eyes on that master tigress up in the palace, id 'ave to say that fox is the most gorgeous girl I 'ad ever seen!' the bunny whispered back stealing flirtatious glances her way.

'No kidding' the pig replied somewhat dreamily. By now she was fuming; out shone by that _kitten, _even the thought of it left a bad taste in her mouth. She was literally shaking with rage and growling as quietly as she could manage. _Calm yourself, you will get your chance to get your revenge on that…that monster. But you won't get it if you can't control yourself! _She mentally scolded herself for almost lashing out at the two desperate idiots.

Afraid she might get more reason to lose her temper she broke into a run, trying her hardest to not draw attention to herself. She zoomed past shops and homes and memorials and finally came to the bottom of a huge set of stairs. She gawked and gave herself a small pep talk. _C'mon girl! You can do this, it's just stairs! Just imagine what lies on the top, your mortal enemy are waiting at the top for you! _

She took a deep breath and started sprinting up the steps with surprising speed; all the while, fantasizing about the many different kinds of tortures she would make the striped cat endure. Five minutes passed and she was already halfway up the steps; it's amazing what someone can accomplish when given the right motivation, and so what if that motivation is demolishing someone's reputation, and to cause them as much blinding pain as possible in the process? It worked splendidly didn't it?

_Ugh, I can almost smell the jasmine soap she uses already, how revolting. I just can't wait! It's going to be so fulfilling to watch my dream finally come true… _her fatigue faltered and she sniffled, her eyes began to brim with tears of joy._ No don't cry! You've done your fair share of that already, and if you start now, who knows when you'll stop?_

After a few more minutes of continuous running, she finally reached the top step. She stood panting and catching her breath for a few moments before strolling towards the huge door just ahead of her. She was almost skipping, she felt absolutely giddy. Rushai sighed, got a hold of herself and prepared herself for the on-coming challenge. The arctic fox had to be alert for anything, like what if it was tigress herself who came to answer the door, what would she do? She frowned, had she enough self control to not lash out right there and then? _I friggin' hope so! I didn't go up all those stairs for nothing!_

She took a few deep breathes, rapped on the door and took a few unsteady steps back. Exactly seven agonizingly long seconds passed, and eventually an elderly red panda opened the massive door hesitantly.

"Yes? Is there anything I can help you with?" Rushai bowed and nodded slightly. _Ok, this is it! Don't blow it. _She took a deep breath through her nose and looked the red panda dead in the eye.

"Yes, my name is Fa Rushai. I'm an old acquaintance of master tigresses; I've been just _dying_ to see her again after all this time apart."

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